Crustaceans (Epoch)

This is a review of the crustaceans (and one xiphosuran) released among four crustacean-centric sets by Epoch. Epoch has produced crustaceans for several marine sets but they also have four (at least) sets of all arthropods (again, mostly crustaceans but one xiphosuran). There is a lot of duplication between the sets but each set has at least one species unique to the given set. I have assembled mine individually over the years and while I do not have every figure, I do have at least one of every species made (there were multiple color forms of a couple of the species). Like most sets my Japanese manufacturers, they mostly represent Japanese/southeast Asian species.

The figures are mostly solid PVC; a couple have to be snapped together. They are typical gashapon-sized comparable to Kaiyodo and Yujin figures. Several have a base of sorts, but they are free from the base and sit loosely on the base (i.e., they do not have pegs or other methods of permanent attachment).

Here are the 10 species that can be found among the sets:

1. terrestrial hermit crab, Coenobita cavipes.Epoch made at least four color versions of this species; I have three of them. Other members of this genus have been made by Kaiyodo and Kitan Club, and the Incredible Creatures and Good Luck Mini hermit crabs by Safari LTD are probably attributable to this genus.

2. Japanese spiny lobster, Panulirus japonicus.This species has also been made by Kaiyodo and Kitan Club, in addition to four other species in the genus I have made by various manufacturers.

3. Harlequin shrimp, Hymenocera picta.This is a unique figure to Epoch. It nicely sits atop a base of not only a rock/sand substrate, but also its starfish prey! This is the gem of the set(s).

4. Japanese horseshoe crab, Tachypleus tridentatus.This species was made twice before by Kaiyodo, although this is the largest of the three.

5. Japanese freshwater crab, Geothelphusa dehanni.Epoch made three color versions of this species, and it has been made several times in several color forms my other companies (I think in an earlier post I calculated there are at least 17 versions of the species available by four different companies, if you take into account the color varieties among same sculpts...).

6. Giant Japanese spider crab, Macrocheira kaempferi.This species is a staple, especially among Japanese manufacturers. I have eight additional figures by Chap Mei, Colorata, Kaiyodo, Kitan Club, Play Visions, and Yujin.

7. slipper lobster, Ibacus ciliatus.This species had been made once before, by Takara Tomy A.R.T.S. in a set that was a re-release of a set originally produced by Yujin after T-TARTS bought Yujin (although this species was not in the original Yujin lineup)

8. European lobster, Homarus gammarus.This is an refreshing choice; most lobster figures attributable to the species level are the Maine lobster, H. americanus.

9. fiddler crab, Uca lacteal.This species was also made by Wing Mau, but I have four other species in the genus by various manufacturers.

10. Long-armed soldier crab, Mictyris longicarpus.This species was also made by Cadbury (Yowies) and Wing Mau, with an additional member of the genus (M. brevidactylus) made by Kaiyodo. I don't have the paper for this figure, so it might be M. brevidactylus. I assumed it was longicarpus since that was the only species made until Kaiyodo's brevidactylus figure.